This year's Amoebapalooza was yet another all out bash, but this year we joined the SF store at The Mezzanine for a gigantic morsel of audible chaos. The Berkeley store brought the rock this year, starting
with the ethereal and revving up the noise with each following act.

First up for the Berkeley store was Stormy King and The Mad Switch. Plucking her 12 string acoustic guitar, Stormy and mad-switcher Matt opened the night with a great mix of electro-acoustic soundscapes.
With beautiful and almost eerie vocals, Stormy captivated the crowd and got us ready for the rest of the evening.

After a San Franciscan band, B.B. & The Bop Guns hit the stage. The three-piece switched instruments with each song, yet was consistent in their blues-inspired garage rock. Headed up by Amoeba's Brenden, the band flooded the audience with cool attitude and hip songs to match.

Next on the Berkeley roster was the group Erica Jong, which featured buyer Marty Dowers and his sister Danielle. With the Dowers siblings locked in, the band freed everyone's mind with odd meters and a combo including violin, keys, guitar, bass and drums.

Having participated once before in Amoebapalooza, our annual night of musical mayhem, rhythm and revelry, I had some idea of what to expect when I stepped through the doors of The Mezzanine on a San Francisco summer night. Without casting any dispersions on venues of the past, I was immediately impressed by the layout of the theatre, the size, the decor, and, above all, the state of the art sound system. I zipped up my green Adidas track suit and strode boldly in.

While looking forward to the entire evening of revelry, I was personally invested in two particular acts. One of them had me feeling particularly (I'll admit) apprehensive. The other was scheduled to open the show. Let's start there, shall we?

After a hearty and enthusiastic welcome from our capable and well dressed hosts, W.C. Von der Berc's Cabaret took the stage with preamble courtesy of one drunken and belligerent clown. I had been enlisted to slap upright bass, a duty which I was happy to perform, doing my best to keep up with the dark carnival maelstrom that is W.C. and his Cabaret. Standards of yesteryear such as "St. Louis Blues" and "I Put A Spell On You" were given a treatment reminiscent of absinthe and anarchy, punk and pandemonium. Quite a sight to see!

The only regret I had after Sunday night's amazing Amoebapalooza at the Mezzanine in SF was that I hadn't managed to attend any of the previous years Amoebapaloozas. Amoebapalooza is what we call the yearly concert event in which Amoebites (Amoeba staffers) get up on stage and perform their music, some with officially formed bands and others with groups that form primarily for this anticipated annual event.

Amoebapalooza North '09, which combined Amoebites from both the SF and Berkeley stores, offered amazing musicianship from a richly diverse array of artists who not only killed it on stage but did so in tightly paced, abbreviated sets, and with the quickest set changes between bands that I have ever witnessed.

Be sure to keep an eye on the Amoeba website, including the Amoeblog, and also the Amoeba Flickr site, over the next several days for more reviews and photos of Sunday night's event. Everyone who attended this year's blast was clearly having a really good time! "This year by bringing the two stores together we stepped up our game and it really paid off," commented Amoeba marketing/promotions point person Naomi, who was instrumental in putting on Amoebapalooza, scheduling it at the wonderful downtown San Francisco nightclub. "Having it this year at an excellent venue like Mezzanine, with its top notch sound system really helped showcase the talent that we have at Amoeba," she noted.